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RANKIN Family History

This long-established surname is of early medieval English and Scottish origin, and was developed from the medieval male given name "Rankin", a diminutive form of the given name "Rand(e)", with the hypocoristic suffix "-kin". Rand itself is a short form of any of the various (originally) Germanic compound personal names with the first element "rand" (shield) rim, such as Randolf, with the second element "wolf", wolf. The diminutive form of the name is first recorded in Scotland, where Rankin de Fowlartoun is mentioned in Charters of the Royal Borough of Ayr in 1429. Early examples of the surname include: Reginald Ranekyn (1296, Sussex); Ralph Rankin (1301, Yorkshire); John Randekyn (1381, Suffolk); and in Scotland, John Rankyne, burgess of Glasgow in 1456...